Book Description | Gender, Race, and Social Identity in American Politics: The Past and Future of Political Access explores the ways in which cultural expression is represented in American politics as it intersects with issues of gender, race, and the construction of social identity. Specifically, this body of work examines how representations in the media and larger culture can establish and diminish the status of diverse communities of American politicians. Contributors analyze the rhetorical and performative changes that have occurred in America as it has shifted politically from growing acceptance and tolerance to an obscure-and often hostile-conservative ideology. This book contributes to the growing dialogue surrounding American politics by citing specific cases of gender and race-based infringements of the current political system, as purported by media and party players. This book will be especially useful to scholars of political science, media studies, gender studies, and critical race studies. |
Editorial Review | Gender, Race, and Social Identity in American Politics: The Past and Future of Political Access, edited by Lori L. Montalbano, is both a timely and necessary intervention into our current political times . . . times where racist, sexist, and xenophobic rhetoric is used to solidify political support. If the current backlash against women, migrants, people of color, and the LGBTQ community can teach us anything, it is that the long arc of justice is not always progressing forward, requiring us to look to both the past and the present to understand the potential ways forward. In this book, Montalbano collects the work of a mixture of new and old voices as they explore the ways in which women, people of color, and other political minorities have fought for a place at the political table and the ways in which rhetorics of fear and hate have been used to undermine their efforts to do so. -- Andrae Mark, Governors State University This is quite frankly one of the finest collection I have ever read. It is particularly timely in the "Trump Era" and will enable supporters of the "Pantsuit Nation" to have a voice during these troubling times. I highly recommend it for courses in women and gender studies, sociology, and political science. It is quite simply outstanding and it has my highest endorsement! -- Charles Gallmeier, Indiana University Northwest |